Create-A-Title!

I'm reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles right now, and it's a book about a peasant woman who's raped by a gentleman. Not a gentleman as we know it today, but a man with the title of gentleman. I'm pretty sure that rape is the most ungentlemanly activity possible. There's public flatulation, insulting someone's mother, and then rape. Those are the three things that gentlemen must never do.

A few other developments in candy-tasting. I've tried Crunchies. They're described as chocolate-covered honey-combs or some such thing, so I was expecting something kind of cruncy, chewey and chocolatey. Imagine my surprise when I bit into a rock-hard bar of what looked like chocolate-covered foam-rubber and tasted like a s'more where the marshmallow is burnt to a crisp. It was unpleasant. But not all British candy is bad. Cadbury eggs are available year-round here. I eat one almost every day, which has to be terrible for my health.

This weekend I think I'm going on a school-sponsored trip to some very nice castle and manor in the English countryside. Apparently, if you've seen a film with British gentry and fantastic country homes, some part of this manor was filmed in it. Whether or not I will find that impressive remains to be seen.